Mayor Noland to Colleagues on Deerfield Beach Commission: "We Look Like a Bunch of Idiots Up Here"

Thanks to Chaz Stevens for uploading this amazing video of last evening's meeting of the Deerfield Beach City Commission, in which it finally awarded a winner in the bid for the restaurant space on the end city's pier. But not without high drama. After the commissioners ranked the bidding restaurateurs, Vice Mayor Sylvia declared that she had made a "technical error," and then all hell broke loose. The winning restaurant had its victory revoked. Commissioners screamed at one another. "The whole thing was an embarrassment," Commissioner Bill Ganz told me a moment ago.

Poitier: "I am an idiot. I am an idiot."

deerfield-beach.com

To put this foofaraw in context, remember that in August, JB's on the Beach won the bid for the pier space, only to have its bid thrown out on grounds it failed to make a complete disclosure of its ties to Deerfield commissioners. Then earlier this month, JB's abandoned its bid. You can read the list, with some of what the bidders were offering in this post at Bett Willett's blog.

As you can see in the video above, the commission originally voted to award the lease to David Weinstein and Gerry Alter, who formed Tanlines, Inc., and were to call their restaurant the "Pier Grille." So in that video commissioners refer to it as "Pier Grille Tanlines," distinguishing it from the second-place bidder, Brian Haldeman's proposed "Pier Grill."

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Only after the votes were counted, Poitier announced "I wrote the wrong grill."

That's when it really gets good. Check out the second video posted on My Acts of Sedition. Around the 4-minute mark, Mayor Peggy Noland finally loses her patience with Poitier. "This is so unproductive," she says. "We all look like a bunch of idiots up here."

"Well, I am an idiot," answered Poitier. "I am an idiot -- because I made a mistake." A quote destined to appear on a hit mailer the next time Poitier runs for reelection.

Ultimately, since it wasn't a secret ballot, city attorney Andy Maurodis grudgingly allowed for a second vote. After Poitier switched up her rankings, Haldeman's Pier Grill vaulted into the top spot and Pier Grille by Tanlines finished second.